Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-09-01

homes. l never tire of examining
through the microscope some bit Of
ocean mud. for in it l am constantly
finding some remarkable form of shell.
They are often spined, sometimes they
are as smooth and polished as the best
glazed chinaware; at times they are
pure white, then again they are banded
and striped with every hue of the rain
bow. 1t seems pity that such beau
ties should be so small and hidden so
far from the eyes of men.
On this great bed of mud the most
remarkable creatures live in vast num-
bers. There are serpent-like starfishes,
beautiful branching corals, ugly black
fishes, pure white, ''sea-cucumbers,"
bright pink, purple and red sea anem-
ones, and a host of other creatures.
The fishes are. always strange and un-
couth, with huge mouths and stomachs
all in one, but with the till hardly
noticeable. When the fishes are
brought to the surface their air blad-
ders and stomachs protrude from their
mouths. their eyes bulge out and the
blood is forced through the skin. Life
has been crushed out of them by the
sudden change of pressure. the gases
within having burst the tissues and
body walls asunder. The tremendous
pressure of the water was well shown
by lowering an empty bottle, which
was crushed to atoms.
There is a very curious deep sea ami.
NAL allied to our interesting hermit of
soldier crabs. These fellows have .
soft and unprotected tail, and one of
the first moves after birth is to rush
about for deserted sea snail shell to
cover their unprotected parts. This
shell the hermit carries about wherev-
err it goes, taking new one now and
then whenever it outgrows its old
home. This house moving is incon-
venient for as soon as the hermit ex-
poses his soft tail to the gaze of his
fellow crabs they are apt to give it a
nip. and our hermit may find himself
tailless. and hence of no use in this
world, for with the tail goes the stom-
ach. Besides, in the deep sea deserted
shells are not very common, and our
hermit may find himself without q
home when he most needs one. Born
in the same waters there is a Gu
rious polyp, or sea anemone, mid
way, scientifically speaking, between a
true anemone and coral polyp. I'm
like the ordinary sea anemone, its
body walls are filed with sand. so
that it does not form good food for
fishes. Shortly after birth this anem-
one, which has been swimming
around for few days, is seized with
an uncomfortable desire to settle in
life. and accordingly he runs plump
against the shell of a hermit crab. He
very seldom misses his mark, and i'm.
mediately com mences tying himself
on to stay. He grows rapidly, and in
few days has completely surrounded
our hermit's shell, leaving the opening
above uncovered. The next step is tc
absorb the hard shell, and all this !.
accomplished before the hermit has
felt the necessity of change of resi-
dence. Once having the hard shell
absorbed our anemone does not pro-
pose that the crab shall leave it, so he
commences growing slowly, just keep
ing pace with the growth of the her.
nit. So the two live together through
life. each doing the other favor, the
hermit carrying the anemone from
place to place and probably leaving
bits of food for its satisfaction now and
then, while the anemone furnishes the
hermit with a comfortable, transporta-
BILE house, which grows to suit the
growing demands of the tenant